Harrison Barnes exit interview: On coming back after his head injury, his future, and improving his game

I’ll run through a few of these… Here’s most of what Harrison Barnes had to say to the media today–he looked OK, sounded clear-headed, obviously with six stitches above his right eye from yesterday’s violent crash to the floor.

—-HARRISON BARNES partial gaggle transcript/

-Q: How are you feeling?

-BARNES: Yeah, I’m all right. It would’ve been nice to have gotten the win yesterday, but I’m good.

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-Q: Was it unrealistic for you to come out and play in the second half?

-BARNES: It was realistic, since I was out there. I tried to give it my best shot; did the best I could.

-Q: No more problems?

-BARNES: Yeah, I know my body pretty well. I know when I can go, when I can’t.

At the time, I passed all the tests. I felt all right to go out there, gave it my best shot in the third. After that I shut it down because I knew I couldn’t play at the level I’d been playing at.

-Q: How limited were you?

-BARNES: I probably just didn’t feel comfortable driving to the basket and getting hit again. That was probably the biggest thing that was on my mind, especially with these fresh stitches in.

-Q: Head ache or anything this morning?

-BARNES: I felt all right this morning.

-Q: Could you play if there was a game today?

-BARNES: Uh, if need be.

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-Q: What were you going through when you were lying on the floor?

-BARNES: My head hurt. I didn’t see the blood and all that until afterwards. My head was hurting.

-BARNES: No, even when I was getting the stitches I was trying to get off the table. I think the medical staff did a great job of holding me back and making sure I did my tests.

Because if it was my opinion, I would just dab a towel on my head and walk back out there. But they tried to do what’s best.

-Q: Did Danny Green talk to you afterwards–he was looking for you.

-BARNES: Yeah, Danny came in, talked to me. Just told me obviously we had a great season–he was extremely proud of us as a team and me personally, because obviously he knew me a long time ago.

We used to play one-on-one back when he first got in the league and he used to just kill me. And hopefully I tried to return the favor to him on the court.

-Q: Did you take yourself out after the third quarter?

-BARNES: I just knew that it was time. They kept coming back to me, asking me how I was feeling. I was doing all right, but I could just tell I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do. I figured it was best they put somebody else in there.

-Q: What are you going to remember about this season?

-BARNES: Probably just this run that we’ve had. I think at the beginning of the season I remember us sitting here on Media Day in this same gym and talking about we just want to play as hard as we can hopefully have an opportunity to make the playoffs.

At that point in time, we were talking just barely get in–you know, eighth seed. For us to accomplish what we accomplished this year, to make the playoffs, to have an All-Star and a guy that could’ve been an All-Star but is now a superstar and for us rookies to step up, it’s just been an unbelievable run.

-Q: How do you think the perception of this franchise has changed?

-BARNES: I think people look at this team, I think when we come into next year they look at us as a team that’s legit… This year, coming into it, not a lot of people were sold on us. We hadn’t proven anything, we had guys that had been injured.

I think this team has really done a good job kind of blocking all of that and proving everybody wrong…

-Q: What do you want to work on this off-season?

-BARNES: Just shoring up everything. I mean, obviously my post game and my ball-handling are two big things I want to improve upon. I think in the postseason I definitely gained a lot of confidence being on the post, whether that’s just from it being the postseason or the fact that I got more touches down there.

I just want to continue to build off of that confidence. And the ball-handling, obviously the more versatility that I have, the ability to put Steph off the ball, put Klay off the ball, let those guys come off screens… will help our team.

-Q: Did this team exceed your expectations?

-BARNES: I would say so. I don’t think coming into this season anyone thought we’d have a legitimate shot to get to the Western Conference finals. So just to be able to… accomplish everything we’ve done… coach Jackson believing in us from Day 1…

Some people would’ve thought he was crazy the way he was talking to us, but now that we’re here, he looks like a prophet.

-Q: Your own expectations of yourself?

-BARNES: These were the expectations I had–in terms of numbers, minutes, stuff like that, I wasn’t really concerned about that. The biggest thing I wanted to accomplish this year was to one, improve upon the wins we had last year and two, just to make the playoffs. We did that, won a series, played well against a good team, and we can build on that for next year.

-Q: You had a break-out series against Denver when you were playing the 4 in the small line-up, four three-point shooters. Do you feel like there’s more space with that line-up?

-BARNES: First I’m honored you called me a three-point shooter. (Laughs.) Never been called that before.

It was fun to kind of play that style. We’d never really done that before this season. Really, I’d never really played that at Carolina. I’ve always been so accustomed to having two bigs, especially fixtures on the block.

So just to be able to play that spread out basketball, kind of drive and kick… it was fun to have four people who could handle the ball, just get out on the break, we all had different mis-matches. It was exciting.

-Q: Can you play the 4 spot for extended periods in the future?

-BARNES: I’d definitely have to bulk up. I don’t think I could check guys like Zach Randolph, Serge Ibaka. That might be a little different.

But for that playoff series, it worked…

It was fun to play in David’s spot for a little while. I enjoyed that… But next year it’ll be different. We’ll have a lot of guys who are healthy. I think a lot of people are kind of forgetting the fact that we’ll have David and Brandon, so it’ll give us more depth.

I think we have to kind of re-invent ourselves once again next year with healthier bodies…

-Q: How much of this team’s potential for improvement is centered on you, maybe?

-BARNES: Umm… I know it’s a lot, I guess. I can either work on my game, improve a lot, take some pressure off Steph, off Klay, those guys, not only find the shot but also create for others. If I improve I can obviously help.

And if not, I guess, be in the exact same situation we were in this year.

-Q: How important will it be to bring Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry back?

-BARNES: It’s huge. You look at what those guys have done for us; I mean, Jarrett’s been great all season; Carl’s been great all season. Not only just on the court and production, but locker room guys.

I mean, those guys they didn’t try to pull rank on rookies; they really accepted us. They were great just to me personally. I’d love to play with them another season.

What an incredibly well-spoken and mature young man. The fact that he isn’t even 21 is beyond belief. I have no idea of Harrison’s upside and how good (or great) he can be, but how can anyone argue he was a home run pick at #7. Go Dubs!

I think his ultimate upside is a Dirk Nowitzki type game with better D.

That Man

He gets it. Work hard all summer, gain 15 pounds of muscle. Boom!

tny

He should be 2 or 3 rd option next year, DLee needs to improve his D especially if Bogut goes down again sometime next year and klay needs to take less than 15-20 shots per game unless he’s hot and learn how to get to the ft line.

SurfCity

Really enjoyed reading this interview of Harrison Barnes – thanks.

FeatherRiverDan

He might not had been the best player on the warriors this year but he will be for a long time…..

unc/viking fan

He is a class act with great upside typical tarheel understand team and work ethic.

gizzm

Barnes needs to be the 2nd option next yr. Clearly, he has more upside than Klay and Lee isn’t getting any younger
Can’t wait for November!!

Robert D’Arruda

Harrison has the potential to be an All-Star type player. He will only get better. A great team guy as well and intelligent.

Roy Williams

Miss this young gentleman in Chapel Hill. Will be a great leader and competitor for years to come.